We were treated by the Bu$h MalAdministration’s full-court press the other day of announcing another terrible terrorist threat!! Some bozos wanted to blow up the jet fuel supply lines to JFK airport that would have destroyed this 4930 acre international transportation facility. OOOOOHHH!! Scary!!

As it turns out, it appears this gang of Guyanan guerrillas had no access to guns, bomb-making materials, plans of the fuelling lines, or communication materials. Until a friendly outsider offered to help them. Strangely enough this outsider turned out to be an FBI informer, and the plot was rolled up – three of the plotters now under arrest, and the other being sought.

Kudos to the FBI for winkling out this plot. Intercepting plots like this is their job under the aegis of the Patriot Act and existing Federal laws.

What is less commendable, and perhaps less surprising, is that this group appears at this time to have had nothing more than some vague sense of resentment until their bad feelings were jelled by the helpful outsider. This one simple fact might make a cynical man see a resemblance to the “Ft Dix six” who wanted to attack the military base with guns thy didn‘t have and the “Jersey City seven” who wanted to blow up a skyscraper with no bombs, guns, radios or even “terrorist uniforms,” all of whom were also malcontents in search of an active plot, and which were also conveniently enabled by an FBI informant in search of an arrest.

It’s good that there are Federals out there actively searching for such groups, and stopping them before they become real threats. But some people say it’s a minor step – perhaps a short shuffle - away from entrapment. The same cynical observer might note that Mr Bu$h’s Department of Justice, recently discovered to have been actively involved in deliberate voter suppression among minorities, would surely not be too concerned about entrapment.

It is mere coincidence that this “plot” was revealed just before Mr Libby, who was also involved in a plot to break the law, goes to be sentenced for his crime.

Still, it’s better to have dreamers locked up rather than thinking about such atrocities, no? After all, they might have been approached by a real terrorist enabler rather than a Federal officer

Press conferences with US Attorneys seem much more believable that "Code Orange" threat levels, don't they?